Good news, nerds. Come next year you’ll be able to enjoy the nerdiness of Comic-Con all year round. That’s right, the legendary entertainment and comic convention, San Diego Comic-Con, is launching a new streaming channel set to hit the airwaves sometime in the first quarter of 2016.
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ccording to Deadline, the new Comic-Con International subscription based video-on-demand streaming channel has named a new EVP and GM, Seth Laderman. Laderman previously served as the chief of Legendary Digital and Nerdist Industries (which includes a premium content YouTube channel). The new streaming channel will be co-operated by Lionsgate.
In addition to offering exclusive original content and archival footage from past conventions, subscribers of the Comic-Con International streaming channel will also get access to feature TV shows and films from Lionsgate. This means that nerds, like you and me, will have more access to all the nerdiness of Comic-Con and then some. Jim Packer, Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution, recently expressed his excitement for the new streaming service, including how it will be different from current streaming services, like Netflix.
We intend to differentiate our service through the depth and diversity of its content, the quality of its curation and the joys of discovering its rich mix of programming.
What does this mean for the competition? Well, it could potentially mean a lot or potentially mean nothing at all. It just depends on how you look at it. For one, streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime wouldn’t really be considered true competitors of the new Comic-Con International, primarily because they don’t offer similar content. Netflix and Amazon Prime are kind of off doing their own thing, and very well one could argue. On the other hand, streamers like Hulu Plus and channels like YouTube are another story.
Over the past several years, Hulu Plus and YouTube have played an undeniable role in generating interest in and by promoting many of the featured events hosted at Comic-Con International: San Diego. Now that Comic-Con International streaming will be exclusively offering content directly from the annual entertainment event, this could lead to a decline in viewership elsewhere. Why go someplace else to get the latest Comic-Con news and clips when you get everything you need to know right from the source, right? It will be interesting to see if and how Laderman plans to distance the Comic-Con International streaming channel from YouTube, in particular, given his background at Nerdist Industries.
Until then, we have one more year of unparalleled Hulu Plus and YouTube exclusive San Diego Comic-Con coverage. The 48th Annual Comic-Con International: San Diego will once again take place at the San Diego Convention Center on July 9-12th, 2015. For an unofficial sneak peek at this year’s schedule, click here. In the meantime, you can revel in nostalgia with this awesome clip from last year’s Arrow panel. You’re welcome.
Source: Deadline